In ‘Running With Scissors,’ Cavetown learns to accept that risk is in everything

Robin Skinner has always stuck to all things tried-and-tested. The English musician, better known as Cavetown, will be the first to admit that. 

When he finds a music-making routine that works, he’ll adopt it and refuse to do anything different. After all, if it’s proven to have been a good method in the past, why take the risk of going off-script, right? 

“I think I get set in my ways easily — I find a method that works, and I hesitate to go too far out of bounds. So, for a long time, I made music in the same way: alone in my bedroom (or eventually my garage studio, but same vibes),” he told Rappler in an email interview. 

But no, not this time. 

Cavetown just released his long-awaited album, Running With Scissors, and it’s proven to be a masterclass in risk-taking. 

Early glimpses

Running With Scissors was a rather long time coming. It’s the artist’s first full-length album in over three years, and listeners got to hear bits and pieces of it all through gradual single releases throughout 2025. 

One of the tracks that was released ahead of the full record is “Tarmac,” which Cavetown had actually begun to write alongside Irish artist Orla Gartland. 

“I think I was originally writing it for Worm Food or maybe Little Vice, but somehow I completely forgot about it until I found the project file while I was in the process of writing for Running With Scissors. So, [Orla and I] got back together at my studio in Cambridge to finish what we started!” he shared. 

Just listening to the song already gives you a glimpse of the two artists’ signature sonic elements — from Orla’s rubber bridge guitar to Cavetown’s rough yet dreamy vocals. This was the easy part. The challenge came with thinking about what they wanted to say lyrically. When “Tarmac” was at its purest form, it was made up of a mix of obsessive and intrusive thoughts, until Orla and Cavetown finally landed at the perfect story they wanted to convey: their touring experience. 

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“We wanted to capture the extremes of emotion — the intense joy, high stimulus, and high stress involved in being on stage, alongside the stillness of coming home, which can lead to your mind going in spirals,” Cavetown shared. 

In the song, they explore thoughts and questions like, “The best experience of my life is over,” “What if I never see the crew I toured with again?” “What am I supposed to do now?”

“Despite touring being a niche experience, I think that similar mixed feelings can come up for lots of people after going through something so huge and different to everyday life,” Cavetown added. 

Clearly, collaboration is at the heart of Running With Scissors — and Cavetown really challenged his ideals to make that happen. 

“I feel very protective over my music and have thought myself too stubborn to collaborate successfully, but for this album, I wanted to try and prove myself wrong. I’m still protective and stubborn and perfectionist, but I managed to learn new skills from producers I met in the process. I let them help guide my process, encourage me when I felt frustrated, and advise me when I felt confused,” he said. 

“I don’t think I could’ve pushed myself musically to this new level without getting to collaborate with some really amazing people, and I think they also gave me some confidence to realize that I’m still good at making music even if not every single idea was born from my mind,” he added.

It isn’t just in “Tarmac,” but in the song “Sailboat,” too, where he sings alongside American artist Chloe Moriondo, whose soft sonic identity meshes with Cavetown’s to create a love song that takes listeners through friendship, fears, and emotional vulnerability all in one go. 

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Don’t be afraid to fall

But if there’s anything one can glean from Running with Scissors in its entirety, it’s that it’s allowing us to witness Cavetown’s personal process of learning to trust himself as he moves further into adulthood. 

“I spent a long time (and continue to to some extent) trying to hold myself back from taking risks out of fear of getting hurt. As I’ve been watching my family move into new life phases, reflecting on my childhood and the way people have changed around me, I’ve realized that risk is in everything,” the 27-year-old artist told Rappler. 

We’re often told not to run with scissors so we don’t accidentally hurt ourselves or someone else in our immediate surroundings. But Cavetown isn’t heeding that classic piece of advice. Instead, he’s doing the exact opposite. 

“The sentiment prevents me from seeing that I can trust myself. I can trust myself not to trip or to fall safely if I do. I can trust myself to patch myself up if I make a mistake, and it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world or that I’m a bad person for slipping up,” he explained. 

Growing up is a scary thing, but Cavetown is taking it all in stride. If anything, he’s served as a symbol of comfort to his listeners, especially for the young queer individuals and artists struggling to come to terms with their identity. 

“The way you feel now is okay. You don’t have to fight the feelings of hurt and sadness and anger that can come with realizing who you are. Allow yourself to feel and allow yourself to release it, too, whether you have a friend to talk to or a piece of art to make or a pet to vent at. The first step to feeling okay is giving yourself the permission and compassion to feel bad,” he advised. 

Cavetown is clearly taking his artistry to places far and wide, and his listeners are coming along for the ride. Hopefully, anyone who listens to Running With Scissors will also learn to trust the process and not be afraid to fall. – Rappler.com

Cavetown will be performing in Manila on February 18 at SM North EDSA’s Skydome in Quezon City for his “Running With Scissors” tour.